The Atomic Age

A problem of transcendent national importance was the development
and control of atomic energy. In July 1946 Congress gave this
responsibility to an Atomic Energy Commission headed by five civilians. Under the
Commission's supervision American scientists developed and made available
to other nations many peaceful applications of atomic knowledge for
agriculture, industry, and medicine.

At the end of
World War II most Americans envisioned that the
wartime cooperation between the Soviet Union and the Western democracies would
continue in the building of a secure and peaceful world. The United States
played an active role in creating and financing several United Nations
agencies dedicated to economic reconstruction and the alleviation of
suffering in wartorn areas of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Perhaps the two best
known were the United Nations
Relief and Rehabilitation Administration and
the International Monetary Fund. Large quantities of American aid went to
needy peoples in Communist as well as non-Communist countries. But Russian
dominance in eastern Europe and agitation by Communist parties elsewhere,
along with the determination of the United States to play a worldwide role,
brought about increasing international tension.

Meanwhile, recognizing that the spread of atomic weapons could
endanger the very existence of mankind, the United States sought international
agreement on control of the
atom bomb. This
dread weapon had been developed
by the United States during World War II after scientists established that
the Germans had been trying to create such a bomb. It was used with
devastating effect in order to hasten Japan's surrender as an alternative to a
massive invasion of the Japanese islands with the probability of more than
a million casualties on both sides.

In June 1946, U.S. delegate to the United Nations Bernard Baruch
presented a proposal to its Atomic Energy Commission calling for the
outlawing of atomic weapons and the international control of all atomic
materials. As the only nation in possession of the bomb at the time, the
United States offered to destroy its stock of bombs and reveal all its
nuclear secrets. The Baruch Plan, as it was called, had one condition:
that the international agency exercising authority for inspection and enforcement
not be subject to veto by any single nation.

The U.S. proposal, supported in principle by nine of the ten voting
members of the Commission, was vetoed by the Soviet Union. The Soviet
counterproposal, while also calling upon all nations to renounce atomic weapons,
did not provide an inspection system to uncover violations or an enforcement
system to punish violators. Similar differences on the questions of
inspection and the veto were to stalemate later conferences on general
disarmament. Meanwhile, both countries developed more destructive weapons.

In the United States, concern mounted as the Soviet Union used its
troops in eastern Europe to help minority Communist parties destroy or
infiltrate non-Communist groups and install pro-Soviet governments.
Within
three years of the war's end Communist-dominated governments were in control
of Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Albania, and the
Soviet-occupied zone of Germany.

In the spring of 1947, many
Americans feared the danger of further
Communist expansion. This fear was dramatized by Soviet support of Communist
guerrillas in Greece and by Soviet threats against Turkey's control of the
Dardanelles.
President Truman
appeared before Congress to declare that "it
must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are
resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures."
Congress supported this policy, which became known as the "Truman Doctrine,"
with an initial authorization of $400 million for economic and military aid
to Greece and Turkey. Within two years Greece restored domestic order and
Turkey reaffirmed its territorial integrity.